Portable elevator.



PATENTED MAR. 12, 1907.

FRANK H. BROWN & FREO H. BROWN.

' PORTABLE BLEVATOR.

APPLICATION FAILED DEO. 23. 1905.

z SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Witnesses l Attorneys No. 846,725. l PATENTED MAR.y 12, 1907.

FRANK H. BROWN & FRED H. BROWN.

PORTBLE ELEVATOR. APPLICATION FILED 1330.23, 1905. l

z SHEETS-'SHEET 2.

Witnesses Attorneys UNrrR srnrns PnfrnNr Ornion.

AFRANK H. BROWN AND FRED H. BROWN, or OOLFAX, WASHINGTON.'

PORTABLE ELEVATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 12, 1907.

F @ZZ whom t may concern: O

Be it known that we, FRANK H. BROWN and FRED H; BROWN, citizens of the United States,'residing at Colfax, in the county of Whitman and State of Washington, have invented a new and useful Portable Elevator, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to elevators, and has for its object to provide certain new and useful improvements therein to render the same portable, and particularly adapted for use in warehouses to elevate bags, boxes, barrels, and the like for convenience in storing, the

saine. y

Further Objects of the invention reside in the simplification of the-endless carrier, the production of a` light, strong, and durable pivotal frame for supporting and guiding the endless carrier, and to mount the pivotal frame and to drive the endless carrier in such a manner as to bring the lower end of the carrier close downftothe Hoor, whereby the carrier will automatically take up a bag or the like which is simply placed against the lower portion of the carrierzand Obviates the necessity offlifting the bag and placing the same upon *the carrier. f

l/Vitlnthese and other objects in view the `present invention consists in the' combination and arrangement of parts, as will be here inafter more fully described, shown in the acn comp anying drawings, and p articul arly pointed'out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes in the form, proportion, size, and minor details may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from .the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention. j

In the drawings, Figure A1 isa perspective view of a portable elevator embodying the features of the present invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the pivotal frame and endless carrier. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken longitu.

dinallythrough the upper portion of the end less carrier: Fig. 4 is a detailed view showing a portion of the endless belt provided with a series of` perforations to receive the` teeth of the sprocket-wheels.l

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts inv all of the figures of the drawings.

For the support of the operating parts of" the present invention there is la base-framemade up of spaced longitudinalsills l, suit# ably connected together and supported uponl frame.

caster-wheels 2 for convenience in moving the device from place to place. Standards 3 rise from the rear ends of the sills and are braced by inclined braces 4, leading upwardly and rearwardly from forward portions of the sills, there beinghorizontal brace-bars 5 between the'standards and the inclined braces. A vertically-adjustable' frame is supported by the standards 3 and is made up of upright bars 6, slidable vertically upon the outer faces of the standards 3 and connected at their upper ends by a cross-bar 7. The upright bars 6 are longitudinally slotted, as at 8, for the reception of bolts 9, carried by the standards, so as to hold the adjustable frame upon the stationary frame and at the same time permit of the convenient raising and' lowering of the adjustable frame.'

The front end portions of the sills'l are pierced by a shaft 10. Upon this shaft as a pivot-support is mounted the lower end of the adjustable elevator-frame, each side of the frame comprising upper and lower paral-l lel angle-bars 1,1 and v 12, which are braced 1 and connected by a lattice-work consisting'of an angular arrangement of bars 13, which produces a strong and at the same time light frame structure. The lower end of each side of the frame is provided with a fork 14 which loosely embraces the adjacent bearing 15 of the shaft 10, which is'projected at the inner side of the adjacent sill, whereby t\he'eleva tor-frame may be swung up and down upon the shaft 10 as a pivotal support.

The endless carrier consists of a pair of" spaced.v endless sprocketfchains 16, which engage sprocket-wheels 17 upon the shaft 10 Aand Aalso engage oth'er sprocket-wheels upon wheels when ascending and descending the At the upper end ofthe frame, "as` best shown in Fig. 3`o`f the drawing, each upper bar 11 is bowed downwardly, as at 21,

[so as to meet the u wardlyjbo'wed portion 22 of the correspon ing lower:angle-bar, the meeting. ends of the angle-bars being connected ihsome suitable mannerfor instance,

otherwise secured to the bars.' l For the purpose.v of adjustably raising .and lowering the elevator-'framerepes-Z are con?- nected to oppositejsides of the frame at the u per end thereof' and extend u. vWardly. t ough guides or pulleys 25, carrie the top portion of the adjustable frame 6. la'ch' of these ropes extendspdowriwardly to a drum v.

26, which is mounted uponja shaft-27, that extends between'thestandards 3, it of course' being understood that there is a drurnupon each. end of the shaft. Each" drumis' pro vided with ratchet-teeth 28, engasgged*v by adog 29, pivoted upon the'stationai'yframe. By applying vany form of removable crank to f the vpoly onal projected terminal of the shaft theatter may be rotated towind the" ropes 24 upon the drinn, and thereby swing the elevator-frame upwardly' the shaft4 ,10 asacenter. I- f' The endless carrier' is driven' by means of asuitable engine 30, mountedbetweenthe rear portions ofthe sills 1. v In frontlof 1 the-engine .A

there is a shaft 31, mountedtransversely, across 4the sills in rear .of the inclined braces 4,'and upon this shaft is apu'lle 32,. which is driven from ,the en ine by. a belt 33 Upon one end of the sha't 31 there isa sprocket-wheel 34, engag`ed by an endless sprocket-chain 35,-which in turn engages a larger sprocket 36 upon the adjacent end of the drive-shaft 10. A suitable idler 37 is adjustably mounted upon the adjacent sill 1 to support the lower ply of the'chain 35. For

' the purpose of stopping the endless carrier a clutch 38 is 4mounted upon the shaft 31 and is controlled by a forked lever 39, said clutch including a back gear, so as to drive the endless carrierin the desired direction.. Y

Suitably attached to the under sides 'of the axles 19 is a broad belt 40, which is of a'width to project beyond the sprocket-chains andis provided adjacent its edges with a series of openingsv 41 to receive the teethl of the sprocket-wheelsat the top and bottom of the adjustable elevator-frame. The pur ose of this belt is to enable'the carryin o boxesh sand, gravel, and other things vw ich could .not be carriedby the axles 19 alone. While the elevator will operate satisfactorily. for

elevating bags and the like, which willhang upon the axles, the provision of the belt of Vcourse enables the elevation of material that couldnot be elevated by the' axles alone, and at the same time the belt does not interfere with thelelevating of boxes and the like.

From the foregoing description it willlbe noted that the endless,carrier is driven from the lower end thereof 'and the elevator-frame is adjustable around the shaft 10 as a center,

whereby the adjustment ofthe elevatorof the carrier and may be accomplished with- .discharged at the upper end thereof.

Moreove r, the shaft 10, and c onsequently.th e vlbwer portion of the carrier, is let down clos e to the iioor, whereby a bag or the likemay be v Aplaced upon the floorA at the lower end-'of vthe elevator and then pushed over` upon the car rier, which will pick it up and carry it up- Wa'rdly along the elevator-.frame until it is V It will be @bservedrrom si 2 that ai@ vendless belt 40 is mounted etween the sprocket-chains l'an'd the axles 19, so't hat said chainsserve as a simple and practical vmeans A,for holding the endless belt against the' axles 19, and said axles v'1n turn serve'te produce transverse ribs on the outersurface ofthe belt tol prevent the slipping of -any' Aarticles which may be placed thereon` for transportation. y 2

As'shown in Fig. 4, the belt/i() is' provided adjacent each of the sprocket-chains 16-with wheels 17 can'p'roject.

As shown clearly in Fig.v v1, the diameter of the sprovket-'Wheels 1.7,- which engage the sprocket-chains I1 6, is very'much less than thev height of the longitudinal sills 1, which comprise part 'of'the base-frame. For this reason thesmall sprocket-wheels 17can be disposed close down to the surface of the floor on which the portable elevator rests, so that "when it is desired to handle sacks or other packages it is only necessary to place them on the -floor adjacent the lower end yof the elevator and tip them-over onto the endlessbelt, which will immediately grip them and a lon itudinal series Aof perforations 41,-

which the teeth" of the -sprocket- Y carry them upward without necessitating any lifting of the bag to Yplace it upon the lower end of the belt. where larve quantities of bags a're handled in a store ouse or upon a wharf each man can work more rapidly and easily when it is only necessary to tip the bags onto the belt than when itis necessary to lift the same., For instance, when bags are beinor moved by It will be obvious that means ofhand-trucks it is only neeessary to wheel the truck up to the lower end of the.

l belt and'tip it forward, sothat the bags will fall onto' the belt and'be carried .upwardwithoutl the necessity of handlin the same to remove them from the truck an place them on the elevator'. A further reason why the present device is enabledto pick up ba s by itself is that the use of the transverse vs afts 19, extending transversely across the .outer face of theI belt and having -the srnall'wheels 20, avoids the lnecessityoihaving rigid cars :upon the belt to receive .theba'ga as' shown, l'for example, in theL United States; atent to :Eugene Brown, N $668,971 dated ebruary '26, 1901. The lshafts 19 'in'aplieants de- .vice 4move* readily' around .t e `sprocket- ]wh'eels 1? in close proximity tothe floor',- and I thus grip the'bag adjacent theflower endl out -s'tppirg the` movement of the latter.

thereof. ln thisconnectionit will be noted v Journal'ed in said ba vent said transverse shafts from beinr forced. i

brace the shafts 19 and .20 engage the tracks.v

that the wheels 2() on the shafts 19' are of i axles provided with wheels to run on the approximately the saine diameter as the sprocket-wheels 17 so that when each shaft 19 is moved around the periphery of the sprocket-wheels 17 its wheels 20' will continuously contact with the shaft 10, so as to j sides ofthe axles for operating thesaine, and ,l an endless belt mounted between theaxles i and thev sprocket-chains, said chains servinur to hold" the belt against the axles., and sai prevent the weight axles servingto produce t .n.sverse r1bs on of the bagslroni forcing them `hard down ll' the outer's-urface of the belt to prevent slipagainst the periphery of the sprocket-Wheels ping of articles carried thereon. 17. y As soon as the shafts 19 mOVe upward 3. A portable elevator having an'inelined away-freni the sprocket-WheelsK17l thewheels -fraxne provided with angular tracks, ,a plu 1, so-as to support the l rality ol,2 axles provided 'with wheels to'run Shafts. y g on13h-etracks..sprocket-chains secured to the Having thus described the invention, what inner sides' ol' 'the axles, an .endless belt is claimed is- 1. A portable elevator comprising-a basel frame, an velevator-frame pivotally mounted thereon and having tracks, an endless conveyer carried by said elevator-frame, transverse' shafts extending across the outerside of said conveyer and-,having Wheels to engage said tracks, and tan'operating -shalt se-fraine closely adjacent to the ground andliaving sprocket-wheels to operate the endless eonveyer4 and 4guide the same close tothe ground, vthe Wheels 011 the transverse shafts of the conveyerbeing of approximately the saine diameter as the sprocket -lwlieels on` the- ,operating 'sl1aft,` whereby said wheels on the transverse shafts will contact vwith the operatingfshaftto-pre;

chains and` having a series ffperiorations adjacent each chain, said chains serving to hold I the belt against the axles, and said axles serv- ,I lng to produce i and sprocket-wheels liavii'ig teeth 'adapted l to engagel the sprocket-chains and to project through-the perf/erations 4ofthe endless belt.

In testimony that we'elaiin as our o wn We have hereto vallixed our signatures in the presence. of two Witnesses.

AFRANK H. BROWN. EREDH". BROWN `Witnesses as to Frank H. Bre Wn:

GEO'. L. PATTERSON, i W. WQPATTERSON ,t .Witnessesas to .Fred Brown: JonN PATTlsoN, JAMES CAIMs.

against the periphery of said sprocket-wheels. 2. A portable elevator havingan inclined traine provided with'tracks, av plurality of` 1 mounted betiveen the axles and the sproeket- I transverse ribs on thegbelt to f prevent slipping of artlclesicalrled thereon,

the foregoing' j traeks,'sprocketcl1ains secured to the inner e ALn' 

